UPDATE: Montana Highway 2 is reopened across the Blackfeet Reservation and west across Marias Pass.

UPDATE: Montana Highway 89 from Browning to the junction with Highway 44 remains closed. Other highways in the area are reopened.

UPDATE at 11:37 a.m.: U.S. Highway 2 from Browning to Cut Bank is open with severe driving conditions due to scattered snow and ice/reduced visibility/blowing & drifting snow. Highway 2 west of Browning remains closed at this time.

UPDATE at 10:27 a.m.:Browning to the junction with Highway 44 is reopened but with severe driving conditions due to scattered snow and ice/reduced visibility/blowing and drifting. Highway 2 west and east of Browning remains closed.

The Blackfeet Reservation activated its emergency response system as blowing and drifting snow closed highways in the East Glacier, Browning, Cut Bank and Dupuyer areas Tuesday.

According to the Montana Department of Transportation, U.S. Highway 2 from Devil’s Creek east over Marias Pass and into East Glacier, Browning and the Cut Bank junction with Montana Highway 358 are closed as well as U.S. Highway 89 South from Browning to the junction with Montana Highway 44 due to severe drifting, snow and ice, blowing and drifting snow, and reduced visibility.

Matt Ladenburg, maintenance chief of Montana Department of Transportation's Havre Division, said roads between Cut Bank and Browning were impassible on Monday, and the Montana Highway Patrol was picking up stuck drivers on snowmobiles and evacuating them between East Glacier and Browning.

“We even had plow trucks stuck yesterday afternoon,” he said. “We’re working our buns off this morning trying to get Highway 2 and 89 open.”

The Montana Weather Service reported that as of Tuesday morning, wind speeds along the Rocky Mountain Front were coming down, and the blizzard warning was likely to be dropped.

Depending on conditions, Ladenburg is hoping the roads will be reopened by noon Tuesday.

Schools and government offices of the Blackfeet Reservation are shut down today, Jan. 2, due to severe weather conditions, and the Browning High School girls and boys basketball games scheduled for Tuesday evening are postponed and will be rescheduled.

Robert DesRosier, Disaster and Emergency Services coordinator for the Blackfeet Reservation, said the emergency responses system was activated due to 50-plus mile per hour winds that caused blowing and drifting snow.

“The only road we had open was to Babb," he said. "Most of the streets in and around Browning are blocked with snow drifts.”

According to DesRosier, Browning has not experienced any power outages, and the main street to the hospital is clear. They hope to have the rest of the town plowed out sometime today.